Rumors (21 page)

“Well, okay, but I'm not friends with her. She can apologize, but I still don't want to be friends with her,” said Katherine.

“I'm not asking you to start being friends,” I said. “I just want you to stop being enemies. I want to be able to sit with both of you and not have you tossing dead fish at each other.”

Laurel-Ann giggled at that, and even Katherine cracked a bit of a smile.

“So is it a deal?” I asked. “I'll sit in the middle between you two to make sure things don't get out of hand.”

Katherine actually gave me a big smile over that. “It's a deal.”

“It's a deal,” agreed Laurel-Ann.

“Good,” I said. “Let's take this notebook to Brittany.”

“She's going to love it,” said Laurel-Ann. She gave Katherine a quick look. “You really are a good artist.”

“Thanks.”

And so the three of us left the lodge together. I
couldn't believe it, but Laurel-Ann had done a pretty good job of untangling her web. There were still some sticky parts, and things weren't exactly perfect, but at least they were a lot better.

And I couldn't ask for much more than that.

“But what if I don't see them again? What if we don't come back? Gracie is my best friend, and Mary Claire's my other best friend. And I might never see them again.” Samantha leaned against me in the van and sobbed.

We were on our way to the airport. It had been a really tearful scene when we'd left Pine Haven. Laurel-Ann couldn't stop crying, and so of course I'd cried too. And then as I was saying good-bye to Katherine, even she got really emotional. Katherine, who never let her guard down, hugged me tight and got all choked up when she tried to thank me for the piano lessons.

I'd told her that maybe she could get a keyboard to practice on, and even though private lessons could
be expensive, sometimes you could take a group class. Or maybe there was a music program at her school. And there were online tutorials. She'd loved all those ideas.

And it was sad to say good-bye to Shelby, and even Boo, and all the Side A girls. I didn't really realize how much I was going to miss everyone until we were all saying good-bye.

“I don't know. We might come back next year. We can tell Mama and Daddy how much we liked it. So maybe we will come back,” I told Samantha.

“I don't want to move to Florida! I want to go back to Maryland!” Samantha said suddenly. “Florida stinks!”

Reb Callison was sitting on the bench in front of us. When she heard that, she looked over her shoulder, and I could see her chuckling about that. “Florida doesn't stink! Well, maybe some parts of it smell a little fishy.”

Now Samantha was giggling a little.

“It's going to be great. We'll be close to the beach, and it'll be warm and sunny. People come from all over the world to vacation in Florida, and we're going to be living there,” I said. It was the same line Daddy had given me a few months ago, but it seemed like a good one to use at the moment.

“But I miss my friends! I miss my camp friends and
my Maryland friends,” said Samantha. And that just made the waterworks start again.

“I know. I do too. But just think. When we get off the plane, Mama and Daddy will be there waiting. And we get to see our new house today. It's going to be a great adventure.”

“Do you think Gracie can come and visit us next week?” Samantha asked.

I shrugged. “I don't know about next week. But you can definitely e-mail her, or I'll show you how to IM on the computer.”

“I want a cell phone so I can text my friends,” she announced.

“You'll have to ask Mama and Daddy about that,” I said. “Anyway, there's lots of ways to keep in touch.”

Samantha seemed to calm down a little bit. I looked out the window and thought about how crazy the next few days were going to be—unpacking from camp, getting my new room organized, and then helping with all the other moving stuff that needed to be done.

Not to mention the letters I still needed to write to my gold friends. And quite a few to my silver friends too.

 

Don't miss a single camper's story—here's a sneak peek at Jordan's, in
Summer Camp Secrets: Fearless

There was really no reason why I should be nervous, but I was. And whenever I got nervous, I always felt it in my stomach. I kept reminding myself that today should be no big deal.

Mama, Eric, Madison, and I were outside in the driveway, packing the car with all our camp stuff at the ridiculously early hour of six thirty a.m. Who knew that the sun would even be up this early? It was—barely. But the whole world was draped in a soft half-light that made everything seem slightly unreal.

All of a sudden, I felt that cold sweat I'd felt so many times before.

“I'll be back in a sec,” I told them. Luckily, the garage door was open. I raced inside to the bathroom
and stood there panting for a few seconds. My upper lip was all broken out in beads of sweat. I had to concentrate really hard to keep my breakfast inside my stomach where it belonged, but at the moment, my Cheerios and apple juice were trying to rebel against me.

I grabbed a washcloth off the rack and ran it under the cold water. While I was wiping my face with it, Mama called to me through the closed door. “Jordan, honey? Are you throwing up?”

Did she always have to know every single disgusting detail of my life? “No! I'm washing my face!”

After a couple of seconds, I actually felt better, and the sick feeling passed. But when I opened the door, Mama was standing there, holding up the little bottle of Dramamine. “Do you need to take one of these?”

I frowned at her. “I don't know. Do you think I should?”

“Well, you know how windy those roads get really close to camp.”

I sighed. “Okay. Don't tell Madison I almost threw up, all right? Tell her I was washing my face.” I had a dream. A simple dream. I wanted to keep my stomach issues from becoming the viral video of the week. Was that asking too much?

“Ah, honey!” Mama rubbed my back. “Don't get so
nervous! You're an old pro this year! It's not like last year. You've got a lot of friends at camp now. And Molly will be with you, and Madison. And of course Eda, but try not to bother her today, because you know how busy Opening Day is for her.”

I took the pill Mama held out for me and swallowed it with a gulp of water. Having her tell me I shouldn't get nervous made me feel even worse.

She was right. This was going to be my
second
summer at Camp Pine Haven, so why was I on the verge of regurgitating?

Mama has always said I have a “nervous stomach” because it doesn't take much to make me regurgitate. Of all the words for throwing up—vomit, puke, barf, hurl—I liked
regurgitate
the best. It sounded more … medical.

“I'm not nervous. I'm just … stressed,” I told Mama, looking at my fingernails so I wouldn't have to see her concerned look. “You know—making sure I packed everything, all this rushing around …”

Madison and I were going to camp for a whole month, so there were five thousand details I had to worry about. Anytime some major event was going on—when we were leaving for a trip, or if it was the first day of school—it was like you could
feel
the stress
in the air, crackling like electricity. At least I could.

“Well, if you're feeling okay now, Eric and Madison are waiting for us.”

When we went outside, Maddy was leaning against the car with this know-it-all look on her face. Not quite a smile, but almost.

The first thing she said was, “Did you throw up?”

“No.” I brushed past her and climbed into the backseat.

“I swear, Jordan, you're the only one I know who gets carsick before you even leave the driveway.” She scooted in next to me.

“I did not throw up! And excuse me for not being born perfect like
some
people.” I stared out my window at the snowball bush by the driveway so I could avoid looking at her.

“You're excused!” She said it all perky. She was always in a good mood. I slightly hated her for that personality flaw.

Being too perky and perfect were just about the only personality flaws my sister had. She was sixteen, she made straight As, she was the star of her field hockey team, and about thirty-seven different boys were in love with her. And
nothing
made her nervous.

Perfection in older sisters has been known to cause
regurgitation issues in younger sisters. I was fairly sure that medical studies had proven that.

Maddy fished through her purse, pulled out a stick of gum, and offered it to me. I shook my head. She unwrapped it and shoved it under my nose, but I ignored her. The snowball bush had my undivided attention.

Eric and Mama were climbing into the front seat.

Eric turned the engine on and peeked at us in the rearview mirror. “Ready, ladies?” My stepfather was the sweetest guy in the world. It drove him slightly crazy living in a houseful of females, but he always put up with it.

“Ready!” yelled perky, perfect Madison. She'd given up trying to get me to take the gum and was chewing it herself. We started backing out of the driveway.

We didn't have far to go, just down the street to my best friend Molly's house. Molly threw open the front door and raced down her steps the second we pulled in the driveway.

“Finally! I didn't think you'd ever get here!” She had her sleeping bag under one arm and her pillow under the other. Her parents came out, carrying Molly's trunk by the handles.

“Think we'll get all this gear in?” asked Molly's father when Eric opened our already full trunk. The two of
them shifted the duffels, trunks, and bags around while Molly gave her mother one last hug.

Molly squeezed in between me and Madison. Good. We needed a barrier between us. Too bad the Great Wall of China wouldn't fit in the backseat.

“How many times did you throw up this morning?” she whispered.

“Zero! And I slightly hate you for even bringing it up,” I whispered back.

Molly laughed. “See, you're getting better. I'm glad you didn't get sick. I almost called you to ask.”

In lots of ways, Molly and I are complete opposites. She has brown eyes and super-straight brown hair cut really short and parted in the middle. I have blue eyes, and my blond hair is past my shoulders, with a little bit of curl to it. She's short and stocky; I'm taller and slimmer.

The fathers were finished packing the trunk, so they slammed it closed, and Molly's parents leaned into the open car door and took another ten minutes saying good-bye. Finally we were ready to leave.

After he got in, Eric turned around in the front seat and smiled at all of us. “Next stop, Camp Pine Haven for Girls!” He was the only one in the car who hadn't made a comment about my regurgitation issue. I loved him for that.

We backed out of Molly's driveway and headed down the street. My stomach felt completely normal now. Hopefully, it wouldn't turn on me later. It's truly sad when you can't even trust your own organs, but my stomach has betrayed me many times. I've learned the hard way to be suspicious of it.

Mama glanced over her shoulder at me. “Feeling okay, honey?” she asked with her forehead crinkled up in worry lines. “We'll turn the air conditioner on and get some cool air blowing on you, all right?”

I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. “I'm
fine
.”

I hated the way everyone had to pay so much attention to me. But that was partly my fault for being so abnormal. I have never been good at dealing with new experiences, and it had been a really big deal for me to go away to summer camp in the first place.

At least no one had said anything about the “major meltdown” summer. That was one of the worst experiences of my life.

Two years ago when I was ten, I was all set to go to camp for the first time. Eda Thompson, one of Mama's best friends, is the director of Pine Haven, so how could my mother have two daughters and not send them to her best friend's summer camp?

Madison had started going to camp when she was eight, and she loved everything about Pine Haven. So of course, everyone expected me to be just like Madison, but I didn't want to go when I was eight. Or nine.

Finally when I was ten, I felt this huge amount of pressure to go. I didn't want to, but I knew Mama, Madison, and Eda were all expecting me to go, and they all kept saying, “Just wait till you get there. You'll love it!”

But about fifty different things worried me. It was for a whole month, so I knew I'd be homesick, even with Maddy there and with Eda looking out for me. I'd be sleeping in a strange bed, away from home. I'd have to swim in a lake that was really deep with water that was dark green and you couldn't see the bottom of it. There would be all these strange girls I wouldn't know. Maybe my counselor would be really mean.